Black Hippy crew - Kendrick, ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock

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Only a minute or two was played and it served as a transition into m.A.A.d city. Sounded great, but no U2, unfortunately.
 
Pitchfork's review certainly went out of its way to mention the other two featured artists on the album, but not U2.

So butthurt with nothing negative to say about the band they stubbornly couldn't bring themselves to compliment them for their low-key but effective presence on XXX.

Fuck Matthew Trammell with a plumber's wrench.
 
That video is incredible. Great stuff.

I can't stop listening to this album. So much new stuff to figure out with every new listen. The storytelling in DUCKWORTH is outstanding. FEEL remains my favorite song: the verses are great, the bass line is super interesting, and it has that crescendo typical of his best songs.
 
me all day today at work:

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This album really is awesome. I think the only track I'm not feeling too much is Loyalty. Feel and Duckworth have some brilliant lyrics.
 
What's THAT supposed to mean? :huh:...

Well it's an album that has a lot to do with the black experience. So it's only right that they assign a black writer to review it; and it's only right that reviewer would look over the U2 feature, because they have nothing to do with the black experience.
 
This album really is awesome. I think the only track I'm not feeling too much is Loyalty. Feel and Duckworth have some brilliant lyrics.

In the Zane Lowe interview, Lamar was asked if the end of the album was the beginning of the story and the beginning the end of the story. Lamar laughed and refused to answer because he didn't want to give it away.

I've wondered about that, too. Some people interpret the sound of the album rewinding at the end of Duckworth as very telling. If you listen to the album in reverse, the stories almost have a different meaning, as if this is what Lamar imagines his life would be like if his father had been killed.

Because if Anthony killed Ducky
Top Dawg could be servin' life
While I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight
 
It seems like the bookends are a statement about the power of circumstance, which he also spoke about several times in that interview. Ducky survives because he guessed the robber might like some extra biscuits; Kendrick's character dies because he randomly stopped to help someone on the street. The whole album is shot through with that kind of existential angst.
 
An unexpected highlight for me is Yah. It's not a track that jumped out at first listen but I love the hazy production. Kendrick's laid back flow gets stuck in my head as well. The lyrics also refer to that text at the end of Fear which is cool.
 
Alright sat down with it tonight and the lyrics on Genius and I got some thoughts to get out. I think the most prescient thing of this album comes from an interview Kendrick gave in the lead up, a fair way out, where he said that he'd done the abstract, socially conscious thing and now felt compelled to bring it back to a community level and I think DAMN. really reflects that. It's a very, very consistent record, and for me, unfortunately it falls comfortably below To Pimp a Butterfly. Both lyrically and musically I don't think it's as engaging as TPAB.

But I understand that it's not made for me, at all. So I've got to take this record, this new album by one of my absolute favourite artists, on face value. That's the challenge as a privileged white (and Australian) man who is a million, million miles away from this album's concept and feel.

But it's interesting... TPAB will be an all-timer for me forever, but I very rarely listen to gkmc, which is strange, because it's a fucking brilliant album. Anyway. That might just be cos there's lots of music out there. Who knows.

My Rushmore from this album is Pride / Lust / XXX / Feel. I fucking adore Pride. Steve Lacy, a black producer, provides those sensational intro vocals, which lead into that clipped guitar, which looks like it's original - I can't find any info on samples for it. (Genius has Pink Floyd's Echoes listed, which surely can't be true.) Lust could literally slot onto the back half of André 3000's The Love Below - the pitch-shifted vocals and the beat are straight out of that playbook, seriously nearly every second is akin to that record. XXXX is tremendous and Feel is one of the best downtrodden hip-hop tracks ever written, up there with Real Friends, Can it Be All So Simple and every song on ATLiens.

Other random thoughts cos I need to go to bed:
- Loyalty, Love and God could all easily be hit singles. Amazing that on a record as inward as DAMN. there's five songs that have a wide appeal.
- The Duckworth story is fucking nuts
- Humble is still the worst song on the album, though it's still a banger. But I'm upset cos Pride --> Lust would have been phenomenal and Humble really fucks the flow.
- Fear is probably the album's best song from a lyrical point of view.
 
I love Humble. I think the album needs a pick me up at that point, and it's fast and funny. Love his delivery on the entire track and his pronunciation of the titular word.

This is the album of the year so far for me. DNA, Yah, Feel, Humble, Lust, XXX, Fear, Duckworth. All so strong.

Duckworth is one of the best lyrics I've ever heard from the guy.

Also, I think Bono is saying "This country is to ME".
 
(Genius has Pink Floyd's Echoes listed, which surely can't be true.)

it surely is. the seagull-sounding noises in the chorus and outro are sampled from the slide guitar in the unstructured middle section. more specifically i am pretty sure the sample itself comes from 11:30-11:40 in this video:



- Fear is probably the album's best song from a lyrical point of view.

:up: there is an insane amount of good shit in that song to unpack. i think feel is also easily the best beat on the album.

I love Humble. I think the album needs a pick me up at that point, and it's fast and funny. Love his delivery on the entire track and his pronunciation of the titular word.

completely agree. i thought it was decent when i first heard it but it's growing on me more with every listen. as far as kendrick's bangers go, it's not m.a.a.d. city, but it's a really strong lead single.
 
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